Although Mac®, Windows®, and Linux® computers with Thunderbolt™ 4 or Thunderbolt 3 ports offer processing power to spare, for many users (such as pros in the creative fields) onboard processing power alone is not enough. The computers lack the PCIe expansion slots needed to install specialty cards that add video and audio inputs, transcode data, and connect to high-speed shared storage and networks. Sonnet’s Echo™ Express SE IIIe is a compact, desktop Thunderbolt to PCIe card expansion system that enables you to connect three professional PCIe cards to your computer at the same time, via a single Thunderbolt cable.
Plugged into one of your computer’s Thunderbolt 4 or Thunderbolt 3 ports, this compact desktop expansion system supports three professional PCIe cards (video capture; audio DSP; 6Gb or 12Gb SAS or SATA host bus adapter; 10Gb or 25Gb, Ethernet; or RAID controller).
Use multiple high-performance PCIe cards with computers with a Thunderbolt 4 or Thunderbolt 3 port.
Supports three full-height, half-length+ (up to 7.75 inches long), single-width cards, or one double-width card plus one single-width card.
Offers full PCIe bandwidth to the installed card. Learn more about Thunderbolt 3 performance benefits over Thunderbolt 4.
Takes up little space on the desktop, but large enough to support nearly every Thunderbolt-compatible non-GPU PCIe card at full performance.
One port connects to computer; second port supports daisy-chaining of up to five additional Thunderbolt peripheral devices.
Temperature-controlled, variable-speed fan automatically and quietly cools the cards.
Powers on/off automatically with the computer.
Provides robust and secure protection.
Auxiliary PCIe power connector for a power-hungry card; daisy chain port provides up to 15W of power to connected peripherals.
Supports M series Macs (with PCIe cards that have compatible drivers).
Supports Intel Macs with Thunderbolt 3 ports and Thunderbolt 2 ports (with adapter and Thunderbolt 2 cable, both sold separately); and Windows 10 computers with Thunderbolt 3 ports.
Supports Linux computers with Thunderbolt 4 and Thunderbolt 3 ports.
Smaller than the 3-slot Echo III Desktop, the Echo Express SE IIIe is still large enough to support nearly every Thunderbolt compatible, non-GPU card available. With its three x8 slots, the SE IIIe supports PCIe 4.0, 3.0, PCIe 2.0, and PCIe 1.1 cards up to 7.75 inches long. Do you have a card in mind but aren’t sure it’s compatible? We’ve put together a compatibility list that identifies cards conforming to Thunderbolt technology requirements, and organized by fit and power compatibility with specific expansion systems.
Echo Express SE IIIe’s PCIe 3.0 x8 slots support three half-length+, full-height, single-width PCIe cards, or one single-width card plus one double-width card.
Some specialty cards, such as RME’s HDSPe MADI FX, Blackmagic Design’s DeckLink 4K Extreme, and the Lynx AES16e 50, include a daughter card that mates with and provides additional external connections to the main card.
Echo Express SE IIIe includes an auxiliary PCIe power connector, enabling you to install a card requiring extra power, such as the AJA® Kona® 5 or Blackmagic DeckLink 4K Extreme 12G, and Bluefish444’s Epoch and KRONOS SDI cards.
1. Three PCIe 3.0 x8 slots
2. 6-pin auxiliary power connector
The Echo Express SE IIIe features a 40Gbps Thunderbolt interface that delivers up to 2800 MB/s of PCIe bandwidth, enabling it to support 4K video capture and processing cards at high frame rates, and 16Gb FC cards and dual-port 10GbE cards at full performance.
Compatible with Apple M series Macs
see Tech Specs for details
